Night trains

Yes, there are some night trains, but they are a rare and endangered species, at least in Western Europe.
High Speed day trains and cut-price airlines for longer trips have nearly driven them to extinction.

Info on the Munich-Paris trains is here: https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Munich.htm#Munich-Paris
Note the comment "The Munich-Paris City Night Line sleeper train was sadly discontinued in December 2014.".

"Nightjet" (a subsidiary of Austrian Railways, ÖBB) still runs some sleeper trains.
Map here: https://www.nightjet.com/en/dam/jcr:6a8041cb-0131-4ad3-84fd-25154548e5dd/nightjet-streckennetz.pdf
Main website here: https://www.nightjet.com/en/

Hi,

To answer your specific question...no, that Munich to Paris night train route (r/t) was abolished in Dec 2015 when the DB City Night Line decided to end it. BUT, there are plenty of night train routes especially in central Europe. These have been taken over by OeBB serving Croatia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, etc. The night train is called Night Jet, run by OeBB. Other night lines are indicated as EN. Munich and Budapest are night train hubs.

If I were doing the Munich to Paris route, I would do it by day, changing in Frankfurt Hbf. or Mannheim. Take the early ICE to Frankfurt from Munich, take the depart ca 13:00 on the TGV or ICE. . Yes, it means basically most of the day on the train.

There are various ways to tailor the Munich to Paris route...just depends on how much time you have, your train riding tolerance (makes no difference to me in this regard, be it 1.5 hrs or 11 hrs, ), or if you're determined to do part of the route by night, ie also possible assuming you're willing to tailor the route.

Hi,

Part 2 here...Night train routes serve these cities...Hamburg, Vienna, Gdansk, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Verona, Berlin, ie, the "new" night route connects Vienna with Berlin by going through Poland...very convenient), Krakow, Munich, Offenburg, Cologne, Linz, Düsseldorf, Warsaw, and other places I don't know off hand. It depends how flexible you are in tailoring a route from point A to B.

One warning - some "night trains" have a layover period in a station. We went Frankfurt - Berlin on the "night train", which had a 2:45 break from 12 PM - 2:45 AM in Hannover. We got about 2 hours sleep, and pretty much lost the next day. We won't do that again. We did take the night train from Brasov-Budapest, with a couchette and that was good. Also the train from Split to Zagreb in the couchette and that too was fine. Beware the broken-up night, however.

A "layover period" is not really a common term. I read it like one of those innocuous cases when the train itself lays over at a stop and you sleep through it. If what Paul means is an actual train connection, with you getting out and waiting in the station, then train schedules should show that pretty clearly, once you click through to view a second level of detail, for instance on the Deutsche Bahn train schedule link. Connections matter.

The only direct night trains to/from Paris are one to Italy and one to the Pyrenees area of France.

Yes, Paris used to have a night train connection with Munich and Berlin, likewise with Amsterdam, both of which are now gone, but the Berlin-Paris night route can still be done, ie partially, if one is willing to be flexible in tailoring the route If you want night train routes and options, they operate in central and east-central Europe, as I listed above.

Tip: Flixbus offers a night bus connection between Paris and Munich
https://global.flixbus.com/overnight-bus

True, I tend to forget about the Paris-Moscow train that departs only on Thursdays but can also be used as a direct night train to Berlin. Or, connecting at midnight in Mannheim between Paris and Berlin is not terrible timing, just not direct.

Thanks for the tip, good to know as a possible option.

Another way of doing Berlin to Paris partially by night is tailoring the route: take the night train Berlin to Offenburg, arrives between 5-6 am, have breakfast at the station, then take the S-Bahn to Strasbourg, change to the TGV to Paris. Even if you dilly-dally, go at a leisurely pace, you'll still arrive at Paris Est prior to noon.

Paris to Berlin changing in Mannheim I did that option in 1995, all in all, ten hours. It was all right. Now, I would be more imaginative in choosing the route.